The Story:
Hi! If we haven't met before, my name is Alisha Lauchie' and I'm the owner + founder of Gracewood Candles. I'm so excited to share with you the inspiration behind the "It is Well" candle. This year has been an emotional roller coaster for sure. You'll see that I reference some of the same events from this year as being part of the inspiration for all 3 of our Fall Collection candles. Even though they were separate events, they felt very interconnected in my heart and brought up a myriad of emotions. There were 2 instances where I felt my faith was really put to the test. May 8th, 2022 (Mother's Day), our sweet baby girl was born! It was love at first sight and we quickly began trying to get into our new routine of having 2 kids. When our baby girl was 1 week old, she spiked a fever of 103 degrees and was admitted to the children's hospital. Fast forward to a week later after sleepless nights spent on what the hospital generously called a "pull out bed", questions but no answers as to what was causing her fever, and what felt like a million pokes and tests later, baby girl was finally doing better and we were able to go home (though we never found out what the cause was of that very scary event).
Fast forward to one month later, 2 days before Father's Day and when our little girl was just 4 weeks old, my dad passed away. It took several days before my mind and heart could really process what this meant. To make things even more complex (as life often is), the day my dad passed away was also my husband and my brother's birthday. A day that we would typically spend celebrating the lives of 2 people I hold near and dear to my heart was now filled with immense sorrow. I was able to see my dad the night before he passed away, and that gives me a great deal of comfort. But that comfort isn't quite enough to eradicate the great deal of sadness that often swells up in my heart.
My faith is a huge part of my life. The more I have lived and the more I have experienced, the more these beliefs have been challenged as I've tried to make sense of the difficult things in life. There was a phrase I found myself coming back to in each of these hard moments. When we were waiting for the healing of our sweet girl and when I was in the midst of making funeral arrangements with my siblings for my dad, I would close my eyes, take a breathe and think "It is well". Now this didn't negate the fact that what we were experiencing was in fact not well (it was difficult and felt difficult). But what it reminded me of was that there is always the other side...that at some point, we are able to see that these difficult moments and seasons are behind us and we somehow made it through, It reminded me that these situations, all be it hard, were no surprise to God and I wasn't walking through it alone. It gave me peace and grounded me.
The Songs:
The Pictures:
My hope for you:
My hope for you is that if you are in a difficult season of life, experiencing transitions, or just trying to figure out how to balance all the things...that you would hold the phrase "It is Well" close to your heart. Remember that even if there is uncertainty, even if there is brokenness or pain....all will be okay, because you will be okay.